Montgomery Bus Boycott: Discrimination In The United States

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man that believed in turning the law around and to make his people (African Americans) heard and he did this through multiple years of peaceful protesting and riots. He fought for so many years against discrimination and ended up beating it and it made a huge difference today in our society. This endless struggle is reflected in his Letter to Birmingham which he wrote in a jail cell after being arrested for leading a peaceful riot in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King addresses the clergyman in his letter saying that he was upset about their criticisms and he would like to address their concerns. Dr. King further explains in his letter about who the antagonist was, the white people and how he must always wait for their approval. He states, “Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost

In paragraphs 12-14 of “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King begins addressing the clergymen’s belief that the peaceful demonstrations conducted by him and his associates were untimely. King starts answering questions frequently heard by opposing or moderate forces, as well as essentially denouncing the resistance to desegregation. King then introduced the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; concluding that the oppressor is not inclined to act on things that do not directly affect them. Therefore, providing a platform of his argument as to why blacks could no longer wait to be given their basic human rights. Action needed to take place because fair treatment was no longer a hope to be given, it had to be taken.

Who was Claudette Colvin? Well, Claudette Colvin is the first person ever to refuse to get out of her seat. She was an important civil rights activist who had a big impact on the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful because the protesters used nonviolence, the community helped each other, and the car pool was a major step in outcome. First of all, on March 22, 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. gives a speech and he states, “Democracy gives us this right to protest and that is all we are doing. We can say honestly that we have not advocated violence, have not practiced it, and have gone courageously on with a Christian movement”. This statement exemplifies that the protesters have done nothing wrong and they don’t plan on using violence. To continue, in a letter by Virginia Foster Durr written on January 30, 1956, she writes,“I think it is the first time that a whole Negro community has ever stuck together this way and

“For many years now Negroes in Montgomery and so many other areas have been inflicted with the paralysis of crippling fears on buses in our community. On so many occasions, Negroes have been intimidated and humiliated and impressed-oppressed-because of the sheer fact that they were Negroes.”

The Montgomery Bus Boycott began with the public arrest of an African American woman and civil rights activist named Rosa Parks. As stated in Document A,”Rosa Parks boarded a city bus and sat down in the closest seat. It was one of the first rows of the section where blacks were not supposed to sit… The bus driver told Rosa Parks that she would have to give up her seat to a white person. She refused and was arrested.” Rosa’s arrest sparked a number of radical events that fought against racial inequality and segregation over the span of thirteen months. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful because it led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation among public transportation (especially buses) was unconstitutional. The Montgomery

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an eloquent speaker and a powerful figure during the Civil Rights Movement. In “Letters from Birmingham Jail,” he uses the classical rhetoric to engage his audience and present his ideas clearly. This particular text was initiated due to the non-violent demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, which led to the arrest of many African-Americans, including King himself. Although this was not a spoken document, the letter was directed to several targeted audiences: first, the clergymen who wrote “A Call for Unity,” secondly, the “white moderate” (47), and finally, to black men and women across the nation who lacked the initial courage to fight for their rights. Dr. King establishes himself as an authoritative voice

The Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. is written to the injustices of the African Americans by the white man supremacy, and to address the direct actions African Americans were making to change the people’s perspective. The books that have been read in this class reflect the same injustices that Martin Luther King Jr is addressing in his letter. The main point of this letter is to address the direct action being taken by the African Americans and how they sacrificing everything for their rights when only little progress is their outcome. The white supremacy is overruling and the direct action needed to be taken is negotiating with non-violent acts to create a tension between the communities to confront the issues. A non-violent act, such as sit-ins, freedom rides, and marches will create the tension to the white community.

The success of the boycott of the Montgomery buses and the court case Brown vs. Board of education led African Americans into the 1960’s with the belief that non-violent protest and legal action could make a difference. In the beginning of the 1960’s, students held sit in’s at segregated lunch counters throughout the south. February 1st 1960, was the day of the first sit in at a segregated lunch counter. Four seventeen year old freshman at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro- Franklin Mccain, Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph Mcneil, and David Richmond- peacefully and politely took seats at the lunch counter and asked for coffee. “By the end of the month similar protest were beginning in thirty one cities and seven southern states” (“The

Following the seemingly successful 1950’s Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, a protest for segregation where African Americans under the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) refused to ride Alabama buses, ending after 381 days when the Supreme Court ordered Alabama to integrate its bus systems, the state figuratively dragged its heels in changing its transit. In fact, ten years later when the Supreme Court ruled segregated buses unconstitutional nationwide, yet southern states still refused to integrate their buses, despite attending college for a ministerial career and knowing the likelihood that the southerners would violently resist, James L. Farmer Jr. , a Gandhi-influenced activist, saw the opportunity to hold these states accountable. To do so, Farmer, organizing what he came to call “Freedom Rides”, set out to train 12 volunteers along with himself in nonviolent protest to prepare the riders to ride through those stubborn states, in turn desegregating them . While acquiring his degree from Howard University, the college where he decided to co-found and Direct the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Farmer studied Gandhi, this strongly influencing the activist to approach the protest peacefully . Choosing to model the Freedom Rides after a similar bus protest, Farmer followed Bayard Rustin’s “Journey of Reconciliation”; however, unlike Rustin, Farmer emphasized thoroughly training his riders in a three-day workshop that focused on

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was started by a woman who stood up against unjust segregation by sitting down. It officially started on December 5,1955, because a Black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a White man. It was started by the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), which was created for this purpose. The boycott continued for 381 days, until bus segregation was declared unconstitutional. The Montgomery Bus Boycott started a wave of nonviolent protests against segregation in the United States of America.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56 was triggered when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1st, 1955. The event saw that around 95% of Montgomery’s black citizens refused to ride the bus, lasting 381 days. This was an extremely important event as this is identified as the beginning of the American Black Civil Rights movement. I will be discussing the causes of this event - the Jim Crow laws, Rosas refusal to move, and the support of the NAACP - as well as the consequences; the suffering of Rosa and Raymond and their supporters, Negro economic power and Martin Luther King Jr. emerging as a civil rights leader.

"The only tired I was, was tired of giving in." Says Rosa Parks. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, leading to her arrest. Sparked by said arrest, the Montgomery Bus Boycott started and didn't stop until bus segregation was declared unconstitutional in 1956. I believe that a hero should make an impact on peoples lives. I believe that Rosa Parks made a strong impact on peoples lives because she is brave, tenacious, and has integrity. Rosa is a hero because she shows great bravery. Despite the rules, she stayed seated knowing that she could be severely punished for not moving seats. To be brave, you have to be ready to face and endure danger or pain, without showing fear. She did not fear her punishment, she accepted it. She knew

In the late eighteen hundreds, the Reconstruction by Congress was overturned by the Supreme Court. Segregation or separation by skin color was made a law which was adopted by private organizations, institutions and businesses (loc.gov). Physical violence and mental harassment was imposed upon those whom were deemed inferior in color. Some citizens accepted the law, as is, without question while others believed it was their supreme right to remain separate without modification. Human activists, that opposed this way of living, pursued an extensive battle to abolish racial inequity and segregation from American life (loc.gov). During the nineteen hundreds, many understood this treatment as an offense to human beings and activists began

As said by Rosa Parks,“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right”.This means that when she sat in the front of the bus she was not fearful to get arrested and move because she wanted equal rights.The Civil Rights Movement was a mass popular movement for African Americans equal access to opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S. citizenship. The African Americans were fighting for equal rights, and they wanted to be treated the same as everyone else. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. A boycott is to stop using a product for example, the African Americans boycotted so they could stop riding the buses.The boycott was in Montgomery, Alabama. African Americans wanted to be equal to the whites because they were treated differently than the whites for everything. They wanted to be treated the way whites were being treated.The boycott took place in Alabama in 1955 and ended 1956.The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a successful protest because there were many ways besides the bus for African Americans to get around, the the bus companies lost money, and the protest were covered by the news.